Escape
by Sprit4
Summary: When Paige was a baby she was taken away from her family and brought to a facility where she trained to be the perfect child spy. When she escapes she finds she has powers that might just explain a lot, like who her parents are, and why she was taken to the facility in the first place.
1. Chapter 1

Escape. Such a simple word. Almost any living thing can say it, think it, or do it. But it's easier said than done. It has four consonants, three vowels, and two syllables. It has sixteen letters and one meaning: to leave, flee, run. To escape from the dark.

She opened her eyes to the bright florescent lights stuck to the ridged metal ceiling. It was her birthday but no one would remember or even care. The special training just happened to fall on this day. Five years. She was turning five. Which meant it had been five years since she'd come here. This place… The years…

A piercing bell rang somewhere in the distance. Echoing off the labyrinth of metal corridors. Late. That's what she was going to be, late for the first day of combat training –She hopped out of bed– For the past years they had been learning every language, her and the other children there. –She pulled on the one outfit she owned, save for her night cloths, and walked out of her room. More florescent white lights hit her face blinding her. The sun, she thought smiling, seeing it would make a good present. She walked through more rooms till she reached the training room, with a high arching ceiling, made of all metal, and a large space on the floor, metal as well. Hanging on a board in the front of the room were a mixture of weapons. All four girls were sitting on the floor; no one spoke not even when she sat down. She was the youngest so after today everyone would be five. She looked over to the boys. She knew none personally, the children weren't allowed to play; it was training from six am. to ten pm. everyday.

"Crow!" the harsh voice of the man in the front, yelling her code name, snapped her back to reality, "Pay attention!" She nodded and then looked around; everyone didn't look at her save for the sympathetic look she got from a boy in the back of the room.

"Today we start combat training. You will start by choosing a weapon…" He continued on to explain what you should look for in a good weapon, but no one listened. They had all had a sudden interest with the board. When he finished everyone ran at the same time.

Pushing and shoving to get a gun. A boy and girl were wrestling on the floor, a gun next to them. A second girl ran by and took the gun. No one would stop them, the children were encouraged to fight and steal.

She walked over to the board, after everyone had found the weapon they wanted or just not wanting to take the last two weapons. The only weapons left were a long wooden stick and a small knife. A boy was already standing there, he had a mess of brown hair I'd seen him before, but I didn't know his name.

"Which do you want?" he asked smiling at her. She winced, knowing what a smile usually meant. Furtive deep down.

"Which do you want?" he asked again, exaggeratingly rubbing his hand to his chin. She quietly pointed at the staff. He pulled it off the board and handed it to her. She was so astonished she almost dropped the long wood stick. He then in turn picked up the knife.

"Flame!" The man's voice cut through the yelling of the other children. The man continued to yell at the boy, Flame, most likely about giving up a better weapon without a fight. But she just stared at the staff in her hand. When she looked up again the boy had bent over his legs and rolled up the back of his shirt. The Man took out a handle and pushed a silver bottom. An arc of electricity came out of the hole. He raised and brought it down quick. Each crack of the whip reminded her of the piercing pain that came after and then the fire in your blood. Five slashes, that's how many the boy got. She had gotten twenty-three slashes months before. She turned away. The sight made the scares on her back burn.

When the punishment was done the boy walked back a smile on his face.

"Why did you take the knife?" she asked quietly and extremely confused.

The boy shrugged, "An enemy will think you are very skilled or insane," he smiled, "Either way it works to your advantage." She suddenly had a new respect for this boy. He was really smart, or very stupid.

"What's your name?" He asked again.

"Crow," she answered back.

"He almost laughed, "No your _real name_." No one had ever asked what her name was before. She smiled knowingly.

"Paige," she said

He smiled that mischievous smile again and said, "Xander."


	2. Chapter 2

_Seven years later_

Her black hair wiped in the air as Paige ran through the cement trees and walls. Her feet made no noise as she snuck her way to the middle of the maze. A long wooden staff was strapped to her back. Paige stopped to catch her breath. Her training team had sent her to draw the attention of the opposing team while the others searched for the flag. Clang!

She didn't need to look up, but did anyway. A Cage was around her buzzing with electricity. She slapped her hand to her head in exasperation. She was trapped. Paige closed her bright gray eyes. They must be watching her somehow. If you can't fight them, scare them, she thought.

The other team would think she was preparing for another attack. She sat there for exactly two minutes and forty-six seconds (she counted) then the buzz of electricity stopped and the cage being lifted.

"You'll get punished," she said suddenly, "again." She opened her eyes. The cage was gone, just as she thought, but Xander was standing there a cocky look on his face. Paige stood up.

"What?" she asked. He just smiled, "You shouldn't have come back for me." He burst out laughing.

"You could thank me!" he said. Paige punched him hard in the shoulder. Only problem was that no matter how stupid he was, she could never stay mad at him for long.

She smiled, "You are in so much trouble!"

He reached out his hand, "Not if we win," She grabbed his it and they ran through the maze.

At lunch when they sat down at a table the other team glared at them. Xander sat down next to Paige.

"Happy Birthday!" he said handing her the captured flag.

"Oh no," she said mockingly, "You shouldn't have. Really."

"What's wrong?" he asked, very serious now.

"Nothing."

"You always get this way when something's bothering you." He said slowly. Paige didn't answer, he was right something was nagging at her.

"Does it ever fell like there could be more out there?" she ventured.

"We know there is," he answered back, "We saw it through that crack." Two years ago when she and Xander where walking through a corridor, when he had said he felt a fan. Fans were only allowed to be on during the hot mouths and it was fall. When they took a closer look they found a small crack. It was big enough to see blurs of green trees.

"I… I think we should escape from this place," Paige lowered her voice, "I mean, they have kept us here all our life. Don't you want to know more?"

"I've been saying that for the last few years." He said smiling, "I guess I finally got through to you.

That night Paige crept out of her room, and made her way silently to the end of the corridor. A dark figure came out of the corner, and Paige suddenly jumped back. Xander came into the dim light and used sign langue to say "Sorry." Then he motioned for Paige to follow. They crept in and out of dark rooms until a door opened an Xander, who had better reflexes, pushed her against a dark wall and put a hand over her mouth. Paige noticed sadly that the mischief in his eyes were gone. A large troop of about sixteen guards walked into the room she and Xander had just exited. She had never seen so many guards. Did they know she and Xander were planning an escape?

Xander slowly drew his hand away from her mouth and pointed up. Directly above them a small vent pushed cool air through one room and into another.

Paige pulled herself into the vent with ease and then turned to help Xander. The metel vent, just like everything else in the building, was fortified in over a billion ways, so she wasn't worried about falling through.

"Ow!" Xander whispered suddenly, "The celling is too low."

"It's a vent."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

Paige perused her lips, "The courtyard is the closest to the door," she said slowly, thinking hard about al she knew about the building.

"Fine," he answered, relieved. Paige smiled to herself. They would get out of here she just knew they would.

Paige dropped into the Courtyard first and looked around for any guards. Then gave the thumbs-up to Xander. He leapt down without making a sound.

The Courtyard wasn't actually outside, but it's what all the children imagined nature to look like: trees with shimmering silver leaves and flowers full of different shades of brown and black. The floor had been painted a dull grayish green. The paint was peeling almost everywhere, and some sports there was an absence of green entirely. She could have stood there forever, but that's when the sirens started.

Paige ran to the center of the room. There were two exits that lead to a door none of the children were allowed to go near. It was guarded 24'7.

Xander turned to her, "We have to split up," he started, "Then at least one of us can get out."

"Don't say that!" Paige backed away, "We are going to get out _together_!"

"Just go," He begged, "Please."

"No!"

"We'll meet at the place," he said, "I'll be right behind you."

Paige ran up and hugged him, "Thank you… for everything." She said trying to conceal her tears. She then ran off through the door that would lead her directly to freedom. She didn't look back, she didn't dare.

Xander still stood in the center of the room. He had sent Paige away for two reasons: One so she'd be safe, and two so she wouldn't see what he was going to do.

Paige ran through the corridor the sirens still blared, but she wasn't listening. Why did you leave him? She asked herself. Why? When Paige got to the door it was silent until a man came out behind her. She screamed.

Still in the courtyard Xander heard the Scream. Over forty-five guards were lying on the floor, but he paid no attention, just ran toward the door Paige had gone through. Nobody was there. Sirens wailed as ninety men with guns came behind him.

Paige ran out into the cold fresh air. She had made it. The rock, where was it? The one Xander and her had seen through the crack in the wall. When she found it Paige sat behind it, and hid. She had knocked the Guard unconscious and then locked him in the closet… Where was Xander?

She waited almost three hours until the sky got brighter and a guard made his way near the rock. Paige couldn't wait any longer. They… They must have gotten Xander. She bit her palm to stop herself from crying. Xander would want her to run, so she did.

She ran and ran through the woods and to a river. There she asked a man for a ride. She took a boat, then a train, a boat and another train. Asking and paying any way she could. She would never stop running, never. She never really knew what she was running from, but she would stay away from it. There was darkness beginning in her. Light too, but mostly dark. And it would grow and grow and grow, and it would keep growing for three years and long after that. That's what she had been trained for, what she would always be. Darkness.


End file.
